


The Language of Tir Fradi, the Yecht Fradi: a Dictionary and Guide

by LaughingTiger



Category: GreedFall (Video Game)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23437642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingTiger/pseuds/LaughingTiger
Summary: Consisting of notes and observations concerning the language of the natives of Tir Fradi, as well as a dictionary of translated words and places and deconstructed roots used in the language. ~De Courcillon Fecit~(This project is ongoing and will be updated accordingly.)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 25





	The Language of Tir Fradi, the Yecht Fradi: a Dictionary and Guide

The language of the natives of Tir Fradi, which they call the blessed tongue, or the Yecht Fradi, appears to be distantly related to many of the languages spoken within the territories of the Congregation of Merchants, and seems to have even more in common with the antiquated scriptural language of the privileged texts of Theleme, a derivative of which is spoken by the citizens today.

Compare, for example, _Dor_ , as the natives say, to “door,” which is the meaning of this native word. _Rind_ in the yecht fradi correlates with “ring,” as does _Car_ with “care.” There are numerous other examples of common root words that have undergone little or no phonemic or semantic change since whatever original, united group or tribe split and some of those ancient individuals carried their language to the distant shores of Tir Fradi just as others settled in geographically isolated corners of Gecane. It could even be possible that Tir Fradi is the ancient home from which the ancestors of all who live upon the mainland today set forth, though this proposition is presented as a philosophical curiosity more than a genuine suggestion that such an outlandish sequence of events is likely to be the truth.

This discovery, that languages separated by such vast physical barriers share a common source, has exciting implications and validates the study of our ancient texts, as the ability to translate much older forms of our own and our neighbors' languages will lend itself immeasurably to learning the Yecht Fradi. 

The natives of Tir Fradi have taken upon themselves the great burden of translation, teaching themselves and their children our trade tongues, but true communication relies upon nuanced understanding of the overlaps and gaps between both languages on the parts of both parties. We have already learned much of value from our dear guests and allies-- what more might we glean if we had a subtler understanding of the Yecht Fradi? Semantics do not always cooperate to create accurate and complex translations, and since there are many students throughout Gecane who have the basic skills necessary by virtue of diligent study of antiquity and its languages, I propose that we channel this untapped resource and set them to work learning the living language of Tir Fradi, which is truly a land of blessings.

To that end, what follows is the scaffolding of what I hope will become a fully-realized guide to understanding and using the Yecht Fradi.

A to, oi! (I say) to you, oy!  
andevourshd tir e | _____ the earth he/she/it is  
anemen shadi | shadow spirits  
anemhaid | firey soul  
bedri | (burial place of the first high king)  
beraig nodas | sap carriers  
carants | ally  
cengeden anedas | storm warriors  
cergganaw | circle song  
cergsaunsei | circle dance  
couwis | cave of knowledge  
credgwen | heart trees  
credhenes | the (one) heart  
cwe es | who are you  
cwenvar | tall trees  
daintnem | teeth sky  
did e kiden nadaigeis | (ruins of the first guardian)  
doneia egsregaw | (rebels against invasion)  
doneigad | wiseman/woman  
doneigada | wisemen/women  
dorgred | heart's gates  
dorhadgenedu | door of renewal  
en on mil frichtamen | he of a thousand faces  
falrhistel | promises in stone  
frasoneigad | "the Ancients' woods"  
glendgnamvar | shore of the tall bones  
lugeid blau | yellow eyes  
magasvar | vale of the great battle  
mal | chieftain  
meinei falag | rocky mounts  
minundhanem | soulmate  
nadaig frasamen | protector of the forest  
nadaig glendemen | protector of beach/coast  
nadaig megamen | protector of plains and hills  
nadaig meneimen | protector of mountains and peaks  
nadaig vedemen | protector of swamp  
sisaig cnameis | bone blowers  
steiger falag | rocky steps  
tir dob | black land  
vasrigen | grave of queens  
vedleug | lightning wood  
vedrad | red woods  
vedrhais | spear woods  
vedvilvie | swamp of 1000 lives  
vegaig awelas | wind weavers  
vighulgsob | black ulgs village  
vignamri | bones of the king village  
vigshadhir | long shadows  
vigsoneigad | village of the old sage  
vigyigidaw | healed wound village  
vogelaig credeis | guardians of the heart  
voglendaiga | apprentice  
wenshaganaw | singing waters  
wenshavarr | water from the peaks  
wenshaveye | water white  
Yecht Fradí | (Natives' name for themselves)  
yigaig srodi | river healers

From the attested translations above and through conversation with various fradimen, the following root words can be surmised:

aid | firey  
aig | person/one who  
airni | iron  
anem | soul  
awel | wind  
bed | burial  
ber | carry  
ber/aig | one who carries  
bod | back  
c/gred | heart  
car | care/dear  
car/a/nt/s | you caring (friend)  
ceng/o/t/s | you marching (soldier)  
cou | cave  
did | ruin  
dob | black  
dor | door/gate  
e | he/she/it is  
ent | they are  
es | you are  
fal | stone  
fras | forest/woods  
g]nam | bone  
gais/rhais | spear  
glend | beach/coast  
me | me  
meg | plains and hills  
men | mountain  
mil | thousand  
nad | protector (bonded to the land)  
neis | our  
nodas | sap  
rad | red  
ren/ | sea  
ren/aig/se | sea/one who/coming from (person from the sea)  
rhistel | promise  
ri[g] | king/queen  
shad | shadow  
sir | sister (direct address)  
sis | blow  
sis/aig | one who blows  
son | old/elder/ancestor  
srodi | river  
tir | land/earth  
to | you  
var[r] | heights/peak/great  
vas | tomb  
ved | swamp  
veg | weave (noun)  
veg/aig | weaver  
veye | white  
vig | village  
vogel | guard  
vogel/aig | guardian (human)  
wensha | water  
wis | wisdom/knowledge  
yig | heal

**Author's Note:**

> Source and Grammar:  
> The Yecht Fradi language seems to be derived from the Celtic branch of Indo-European languages (though I find a proto-Celtic dictionary useful, my Proto-Indo-European dictionary has been far moreso). Many of the roots are recognizable (look at “sky teeth” daintnem and think “dental”), and the grammatical structure seems predictable and uncomplicated. It looks like verbs conjugate just like Latin and many of its modern daughter languages with unique endings to indicate the person and number of the subject (it looks like the endings are nearly identical to those used in Latin and they might correspond with French), but I would surmise that word order is relatively stable because unlike Latin and ancient Greek, I don’t see many recurring endings on nouns that would serve as case markers. Those that are present are probably indicating plurality. Participles look suspiciously Latin, which is why I’ve translated carants as “you caring” from the base "car" meaning care, a connecting vowel "a" the "nt" present active participial marker and "s" which would be the singular second person marker. It’s totally regular, so I’m attracted to assuming this is correct, but it’s worth noting so it doesn’t become a problem later.
> 
> Sound Shifts:  
> From the codex, we get a nice list of easily-translatable nouns, but not many verbs, and it’s in verbs that I would expect vowel gradation and other shifts, so I’m not sure yet if that’s an active feature of this language, though I would guess not (in my experience with ancient Greek and Latin, those shifts are often tense markers, which is probably not well-developed in this conlang). I do, however, see consonantal shifts, particularly with gutturals, that seem to be dependent on placement within a word. For example, the root for “heart” is cred when it is the first part of a word, as in credgwen, but it appears as gred when it follows another syllable, as in dorgred. Changing from unvoiced to voiced is a small shift, but it’s something worth keeping in mind when trying to translate and isolate root words.
> 
> Progress and Process:  
> I’m still working on collecting samples of the language to try and translate (and making the time to translate). Sadly, many of the place-names in the game are going to be useless in translating verbs, pronouns, particles, and so on, so it’s going to be slow going, but I’m confident that it can be done. If anyone would like to contribute, screenshots of captions would be fantastic along with context (context is so helpful with this kind of work).  
> My process is identifying the same roots/constructions/particles in different samples that can help “verify” that a proposed translation is correct. For example, the phrase that merchants shout at De Sardet, A to, oi, probably means “hey you,” but I need to see all those words in other contexts to see if it’s plausible (I’m pretty sure it’s literally “to you, hey,” but I’m assuming the demonstrative pronoun and preposition are basically Latin). 
> 
> I’m not a linguist, though I have some “functional basics” that were taught to me by the professors who taught me ancient Greek and etymology in college. In addition to ancient Greek, I’ve studied Latin and German. For me, this is good fun, but I’m sure I’m not “the right person” for this job.
> 
> I wouldn’t recommend using this to try and compose original phrases in the Yecht Fradi language because there’s a lot that has to be done to a root to make a word, let alone a sentence, but I hope this dictionary and guide will eventually get there. I’m happy to help with projects, and I’d be even happier to accept help with this one! If you use this guide, please credit and link back. Also, check back for updates and expansions! 😊


End file.
